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Monthly Archives: July 2015

I spent an inspirational day with Amy Garro of 13 Spools. She taught her workshop on Graffiti quilting to a group of very enthusiastic quilters. The workshop was well planned with lots of useful information. First we practiced the motifs by doodling on paper, then on the sewing machine.

Amy Garro

Amy Garro explaining her graffiti quilting

It was helpful to see Amy practice her technique and also to hear her thought processes when she decides on her designs.

Amy Garro Icy Waters quilt

Amy brought a selection of her quilts including the Icy Waters quilt pictured above. I was happy to hear that her aim in quilting is not perfection.

A few of us brought quilt tops that needed to be quilted but we were having trouble deciding on a quilt design. Amy asked what we liked most about our quilt – the precise piecing or the colour combination or the interaction of the blocks. With this in mind, select a quilting design that makes this a feature of the quilt.

I’ve begun the quilting on a piece that I’ve had on the design wall for some time. How do you decide on your quilting?

I’ve just completed two table runners made with the Indigo fabrics I hand dyed in May.

Arashi Shibori table runner

This piece is white cotton that was folded in half, wrapped around a pole, and dyed with Indigo.

Arashi Shibori table runner detail

The table runner is backed with a cotton/linen blend and machine quilted following the flowing lines of the Arashi Shibori. I love the look of this piece. It reminds me of water moving in a stream.

Arashi Shibori Linen table runner

The cotton/linen blend of the second table runner was also Indigo dyed using the Arashi Shibori technique – pole wrapping. This time the fabric was seamed to create a long tube that was then scrunched onto a plastic pipe.

Arashi Shibori Linen table runner detail

A hint of the hand dyed cotton backing is visible in the photo above. To see these two pieces as well as other hand dyed fabrics, come to Quilts at the Creek this weekend and have a look at the Shop ‘Round the Corner. There will be a selection of lovely handcrafted items, so you can start your Christmas shopping early!

I’ve been having fun hand dyeing scarves. They are made out of 100% cotton gauze and are available in two sizes.

Itajime Shibori gold

I’ve folded, clamped, stitched, wrapped, scrunched, and twisted to make a variety of designs.

Itajime Shibori blue

Can you guess what I used as the resist in the above photo?

Itajime Shibori turquoise

This turquoise scarf was folded and loosely coiled. The dye was poured into the bottom of the container first and then the dry scarf was added. The dye was completely absorbed by the scarf to create a beautiful ombre stripe.

hand dyed serviette fuschia

I also dyed a few linen napkins that I purchased at auction. I added them to the inside of the tubes I wrapped and the bottom of a couple of containers while I was dyeing the scarves. They have a lovely mottled look.

Kumo Shibori green

This green bundle was loosely rolled around a string, pulled tightly and tied. This creates a texture similar to snake-skin.

Kumo and Nui Shibori pink

The scarf on the right was ombre dyed as well as the being stitched and gathered to create a border effect. The scarf on the left was tightly twisted and dyed with two colours, yellow and red.

Nui shibori purple

A mauve scarf was stitched, gathered and then dip dyed in a blue dye bath.

Arashi Shibori purple and raspberry

These two scarves are pole wrapped: Arashi shibori. They have both been dyed with the same colour of dye. The difference is that the bottom scarf was white and the top scarf had been dyed with a light turquoise.

Arashi Shibori purple

This is the turquoise with purple dye being unwrapped. The colours are gorgeous!

Arashi Shibori raspberry

This is the scarf that was white. Dyeing is a fun process, you never really know how the finished results will look. To see what these scarves and others I’ve made will look like you’ll have to come to Quilts at the Creek Saturday July 18th and Sunday July 19th, 2015. I will have a selection of these hand dyed scarves, hand dyed quilting cottons, table runners and baby quilts for sale at the Shop ‘Round the Corner located in the Pioneer Patio, left just as you enter the park. Hope to see you there. I’ll be in the shop Sunday afternoon stop by and say hello!

Some personal info

I am a quilter who loves colour. The compositions, lines, patterns and colours around me inspire my work. I am passionate about learning and with every project I focus on new techniques to improve my skills. I find great satisfaction in teaching others to develop their technical and design skills. My goal is to encourage others to explore their creativity and challenge them to expand their technical abilities and design boundaries.